Repsol, a petroleum importer that supplied the gasoline to Georgian company Solidus, which shipped it to occupied Abkhazia amid shortages, said that where Solidus resells the gasoline after purchase is not agreed with Repsol and falls outside the scope of its responsibility.<\/p>\n
According to Repsol, which operates the Connect gas station chain in Georgia, the purchase was made by Solidus, a Georgian company, under a contractual obligation, and no further sales are planned to Solidus. Repsol, a limited liability company established in Georgia in 2014, is fully owned by Georgian entrepreneur Ucha Lursmanashvili.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, LLC Solidus purchased gasoline-type fuel from the company, paid for the cost of the products, and is gradually taking them out,\u201d Repsol said in an August 15 statement<\/a>, published by the Connect Facebook page. \u201cWhere LLC Solidus will sell the purchased petroleum products is not agreed with us and falls outside the scope of our responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n Repsol said it has been supplying \u201cEuropean\u201d petroleum products to \u201cover 3,000 Georgian companies\u201d in compliance with local and international regulations.<\/p>\n The statement comes as part of the widening controversy that followed the confirmation<\/a> by Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on August 12 that \u201cbusiness\u201d supplied the fuel to the region from Georgia proper, amid reports that Abkhazia experienced shortages amid the war-related fuel crisis in Russia. Kobakhidze assured the shipment took place in compliance with the Georgian Law on Occupied Territories, which, among others, regulates business activities in Georgia\u2019s occupied regions.<\/p>\n While Georgian Dream circles defended the move as a humanitarian effort to ease the crisis both for ethnic Abkhaz and Georgian residents in the region, opposition figures suspect the fuel may have ended up in Russia, possibly also to benefit the Russian military.<\/p>\n Shortly after Kobakhidze\u2019s confirmation, RFE\/RL\u2019s Georgian Service traced local company<\/a> Solidus as the business responsible for the shipment. The company has a \u201cspecial enterprise status,\u201d which allows it to carry out activities in Georgia\u2019s occupied territories.<\/p>\n In a series of media remarks, Giorgi Arveladze, the company founder, confirmed shipping up to 400 tons of gasoline through the Enguri Bridge crossing point together with Abkhaz business partners to the region, saying the shipment was largely meant for the Gali district populated by ethnic Georgians. He said his company had mainly shipped food and agricultural products to the region until now, and that this was the first fuel shipment in more than three decades, carried out on his own initiative rather than at the government\u2019s request.<\/p>\n